Fast & Furious Gun Seller Released From Prison

When this case first appeared, at the height of the first exposure of the Fast and Furious scandal, it was portrayed as an example of smuggling to the Mexican cartels that was not a part of the operation. It might or might not be significant that the BATFE agent quoted in the article is William Newell, who had a significant role in Fast and Furious, and whose testimony before Congress became infamous. Now, one of the victims of the prosecution is able to tell a bit of his story . . .

Ian Garland was denied bail from the time he was arrested. His release a few weeks ago was because of falsification of evidence by either the BATFE or the prosecution. There’s a lesson here for those who feel they are up against a political prosecution. Cop a plea deal because of tremendous pressure from the prosecution and you may get hammered anyway. From the lcsun-news.com:

EL PASO >> A former gun shop owner who was convicted of conspiring with officials from Columbus, N.M., to smuggle weapons into Mexico is out of prison after successfully appealing the sentencing guidelines for his case.

Ian Garland, former owner of the now defunct Chaparral Guns store, initially was sentenced to 60 months in prison, mainly because the weapons attributed to him in the smuggling case were characterized as “machine guns,” when they were not automatic weapons, according to court documents.

Garland doesn’t have a tape of the BATFE interactions, as do other gun shops that were involved in Fast and Furious. His records were all confiscated during the prosecution. Because he dealt with the prosecutors for a plea bargain, he was not able to tell his side of the story until now. He contends that the sales he made were not “straw purchases” under the law, and the paper mentions that a case about what constitutes a straw purchase is under consideration…and may make it to the Supreme Court.

Nonetheless, the writer is unequivocal about calling the sales straw purchases. No “alleged” here. This is an approved “gun crime” and the “perpetrator” is a gun dealer to boot.

Garland contends that the government should never have prosecuted him for facilitating the straw purchases of numerous weapons because he did nothing wrong.

“I’ve sold guns to people who are in law enforcement, and in the case of the Columbus, New Mexico, group, I sold guns to officials like the mayor and police chief, who were legally able to make such purchases,” Garland said. “They kept making purchases, and when I asked why they wanted them, they said that they were also buying guns for their families to protect themselves against the drug cartel.”

Garland said he filled out the correct paperwork required for firearms purchases, including the background checks, and submitted forms that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives required.

“If anything, during an audit of my records, the ATF told me I was over-documenting my transactions,” Garland said. “I told them everything that was going on, and they (ATF) told me to keep on selling (the firearms).”

We already know that someone on the prosecution side lied about the evidence. That’s why Garland was released. If they lied about that, why should we trust them about anything else that they’ve said? It’s not as if the BATFE and the Eric Holder justice department have a sterling reputation for always telling the truth and cooperating with investigations into wrong doing.

It’s also clear that if Garland is telling the truth, the BATFE and the prosecution had tremendous incentive to lie, to cover up, and to silence him by keeping him in jail. If this case is part of Fast and Furious, then the scandal is that much broader and that much worse. Using false evidence to put someone in jail for long periods just piles it higher and deeper.

Yup. Even if Congress found enough to indict Holder I am quite sure Obama would pardon him on the way out just as Clinton pardoned Marc Rich. Makes you wonder ehat Holder has on Obama when others hwve been routinelt thrown under the bus for much less.

This is just another big FU for American justice thanks to the Democrats and all who vote for them.

Congress has repeatedly demonstrated their impotence and cowardace. The follow through should be them putting Holder and Co. in jail until they comply with Congressional demands. Their inaction disgusts me.

I know a first-rate gun dealer who several times has spotted an obvious straw-purchaser, a clear repeat offender whose boyfriend, a known offender, waits in the parking lot. The FFL called BATFE while the woman was waiting for NICS, so that BATFE could come to the store and pick her up. They insisted the FFL let her exit the store with the gun. He refused, pointing out that he wasn’t willing to break the law on BATFE’s say-so. He was willing to complete the sale only if they came and were outside the door to arrest her just before she left the premises, which have automatic door locks. Because it made the paperwork (the case) more difficult to argue, BATFE refused to come to the store. The FFL refused to complete the sale.

The moral of the story is the good example: Never think you are getting over if an agent gives you a verbal go-ahead to break the law in order to catch a crook. If they blow the case as to the crook, they’ll turn back on you in a heartbeat, because racking up collars is the name of their game.

Pretty crazy, that a FFL might be wise to duplicate and upload records to a remote server (like a cloud), and record all 4473 calls to NICS – and upload those also to the cloud. I just don’t see a lot of gun shops investing in that kind of rigamarole.